Page 68 of His Greatest Treasure

23

OLIVER

Rushinginto Nova’s elementary school, I smooth down the front of my shirt and try to steady my breathing. I got lucky finding a parking spot in the lot out front, but I don’t even remember if I locked the doors before jogging up the steps and through the door.

It’s my first time at this school. Jamieson and I went to a different one a few minutes west of here that smelled like BO. The classroom number and teacher’s name I’ve kept up on my phone don’t lead me in a specific direction, so I dive into the front office like Avery instructed me to.

The woman behind the desk glances up at me in surprise behind her round glasses and offers me a soft smile. “You look a little lost. Are you here to pick up a student?”

I laugh on a quick exhale. “Yeah. Nova Hayes. Her mother, Avery Miller, said she called?”

Nova’s last name behind Chris’ makes my skin flush hot with anger, but I push that shit down. Not the time.

“Yes! Oliver Bateman? Do you have ID?” she asks, eying the name stitched onto the corner of my shirt. “School policy.”

“You won’t hear me complaining about you protecting my girl.”

Their policy is a damn good one. I tug my wallet from my back pocket and flash her my license. She nods and smiles again.

“Turn right outside the office door, and then take another right. Mrs. Kerby’s class is the fourth door on the left,” she says.

“Thank you.”

“Have a good day!”

I wave over my shoulder and follow her directions before coming to a sudden stop in front of the classroom doorway. Nova’s backpack is still hung on the rack on the wall beside a couple of others, so I grab it and slip it up my arm before knocking on the door.

The older woman at the front of the class is perched behind her desk, a pair of glasses slipping down the bridge of her nose before she looks up and fixes them. Nova’s sitting at a collection of four desks that have been turned to face one another in a square, colouring in a thick book with an array of coloured markers.

“Ollie!” she shouts when she spots me, picture abandoned.

I smile, taking a step inside. “Ready to go, peanut?”

“You must be the Oliver that Nova’s been talking about. I’m Mrs. Kirby, her teacher,” the older woman says, approaching me now.

“Nice to meet you.”

“He’s a firefighter, Mrs. Kirby,” Nova sings as she stands, chin up and shoulders straight. “A lieutenant.”

“That’s right. My apologies, Lieutenant,” Mrs. Kirby teases with a quick wink.

Nova nods in approval and starts to collect her things from the desk. I watch her, an obvious lightness in my chest.

“Is everything okay?” Mrs. Kirby asks now that Nova isn’t listening.

“Avery got held up at work.”

She tips her chin. “So, I shouldn’t expect you to be the one picking Nova up after today?”

“It’ll be either one of us from now on.”

There’s a sparkle in her eyes when I look away from Nova and toward her. “Alright. I’ll make note of that.”

“I’ll try to make sure we’re on time from now on.”

“I love my job, Oliver. And Nova is a sweet girl. It’s hardly a punishment.”

“That’s all Avery. She’s done an incredible job raising her.”

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